Entrepreneurship among women: the influence of Ubuntu philosophy

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine how Ubuntu, as an Indigenous African philosophy of relational personhood, shapes women's lived experiences of entrepreneurship in Rwanda. Moving beyond Western individualistic models, the study investigates how culturally embedded logics intersect with gendered expectations to both enable and constrain women's entrepreneurial agency. Design/methodology/approach Adopting an inductive, interpretive design informed by constructivist grounded theory principles, the study draws on face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 15 women entrepreneurs in Rwanda to explore both entrepreneurial motivations and interpretations of Ubuntu. Data were analyzed using iterative coding and constant comparison to surface participants' meaning-making processes. Findings Ubuntu operates as a constitutive cultural logic, shaping in three main ways how women interpret, justify and enact entrepreneurship. Women enacted entrepreneurial agency through affiliation, obligations to family and commitments to community, rather than through individual autonomy. Relational networks provided emotional support, legitimacy and resources but also imposed gendered expectations that limited business expansion and autonomy. Women's entrepreneurial success often triggered renegotiations of household authority, revealing tensions within patriarchal structures. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on a purposive sample of fifteen Rwandan women and does not claim generalizability. However, its findings offer rich contextual insights into how non-Western worldviews shape the meaning-making of entrepreneurs. The study invites future research to explore similar dynamics in other African contexts and to expand theory-building on culturally grounded entrepreneurship. Practical implications This study advances culturally grounded analysis by conceptualizing Ubuntu as a gendered cultural logic that shapes women's entrepreneurial identities and practices. The study also reevaluates empowerment narratives by demonstrating that relational embeddedness does both at the same time; it enables and constraints women's agency. Social implications The philosophy is omnipresent in Rwandan culture and contributes to women's entrepreneurship through resource sharing in self-help groups and the exchange of advice and business ideas, thereby constituting social capital among women entrepreneurs. Originality/value By conceptualizing Ubuntu as a lived cultural logic rather than a contextual backdrop, this study shows how women's entrepreneurial agency in collectivist contexts is relationally produced and morally negotiated. The findings challenge individualistic assumptions in mainstream entrepreneurship theory and highlight the need for culturally grounded, gender-sensitive perspectives on entrepreneurial agency in African settings.